A multilateral development finance institution, the African Extractive Minerals Development Bank is underway to ensure focused and concerted funding of the critical minerals sector, thereby boosting energy transition plans through the availability of renewables.
In a statement, a member of the bank’s advisory board, Mr Ganesh Iyer, said the African Extractive Minerals Development Bank was borne out of the necessity to swiftly enhance and structure in an efficient manner, the entire value chain of the mining sector.
The idea, he said, was to focus on critical minerals needed for energy transition, talking about renewables —solar energy, electric vehicles, wind power, and others.
He listed some of the critical minerals as lithium, cobalt, copper, and nickel, usually needed for rechargeable batteries and wiring.
Iyer disclosed that the African Minerals Strategy Group which has 16 member countries recently entered into a collaboration agreement and became a shareholder of the African Extractive Minerals Development Bank.
“African countries and its main policy objective is to promote the growth and development of the sector within Africa. In addition, the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council is engaged as a strategic partner,“ he noted.
The statement disclosed that CLG Securities Limited is a transaction advisor and seed investor in the bank.
“The bank is essentially formed on public-private partnership principles and seeks to eliminate the pit-to-port mentality of most mining activities but rather assist in creating a deep value chain where value addition, beneficiation and industrialisation are the core tenets,”
“Given the aggressive demand for critical materials which are essential in the energy transition phase to renewables, Africa has become a very important market and all efforts must be made to ensure maximum benefits to its people. Job creation, indigenous empowerment, sovereign revenues enhancement, forex generation will be some of the key objectives,” CLG Securities General Counsel, Bukola Somolu, was quoted.
The statement added, “Funding is critical to the development of the sector and the bank will cover this gap. The bank will also assist sovereigns in leveraging their mineral reserves to shore up their currencies and become tradeable.”
“AEMbank will provide a seismic shift in the funding of this critical and highly untapped sector.”
